When the Duchess of Cambridge has her baby, she should be grateful that she is
not Mary of Modena, the wife of James II. When she gave birth in 1688, there
were 70 witnesses in the royal bedchamber. They were there to kill off any
rumours because Parliament was worried that if the child was a boy, the next
king would be born a Catholic.

Rumours persisted anyway: one said that the pregnancy was a fake and another
baby had been smuggled into the room in a warming pan. By the end of the
year James and Mary had fled